‘Ugly’ disused factory ‘diminishes’ tourist town: Killarney Council

Council chiefs have been urged to repurpose a “monumentally ugly” disused factory in a tourist town.

The former Pretty Polly plant in Killarney closed in 2005 and has been unused since then. It has become an eyesore in a town that has won the top award in the national Tidy Towns competition, and which makes huge efforts to present its best face to 1m tourists from all over the world annually. Scores of local Tidy Town volunteers regularly clean-up the town.

The sprawling site, where 1,000 people manufactured ladies’ tights, was purchased for €2m shortly after it closed by the since-abolished Killarney Town Council.